Please Educate Me


If I can’t find the answer here, I won’t find it anywhere. 

Something I’ve wondered about for a long time: The whole world is digital. Some huge percentage of our lives consists of ones and zeros. 

And with the exception of hi-fi, I don’t know of a single instance in which all of this digitalia isn’t yes/no, black/white, it works or it doesn’t. No one says, “Man, Microsoft Word works great on this machine,” or “The reds in that copy of Grand Theft Auto are a tad bright.” The very nature of digital information precludes such questions. 

Not so when it comes to hi-fi. I’m extremely skeptical about much that goes on in high end audio but I’ve obviously heard the difference among digital sources. Just because something is on CD or 92/156 FLAC doesn’t mean that it’s going to sound the same on different players or streamers. 

Conceptually, logically, I don’t know why it doesn’t. I know about audiophile-type concerns like timing and flutter. But those don’t get to the underlying science of my question. 

I feel like I’m asking about ABCs but I was held back in kindergarten and the computerized world isn’t doing me any favors. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some work to do. I’ll be using Photoshop and I’ve got it dialed in just right. 
paul6001
@paul6001
Be careful in this forum, it’s full of rough and tumble stereo hobbyists. A much tougher crowd than the model train folks, but not quite as hard as the heck raisers over in the woodworkers forum. (That group is banned in two states, you don’t want to know why)

You crossed the line when you asked a question. Well, it’s really not the question, but the way you asked it, your grammar, and possibly the moon phase. Your zodiac sign may have played a part. 

Apologizing and humbling yourself as you ask
will sometimes make you a lesser target than some other innocent soul simply posing a question. It rarely works, but worth a shot.

May the force be with you....
Paul6001, I Totally get what you’re saying. For example why doesn’t the introduction of some special silver wire make a computer compute differently, or make Microsoft Excel more Excely? No clue why digital in and of itself for audio can have a sonic effect but I can totally see it when those 0 and 1’s are turned into an analog wave form. That seems to be where much of the magic or harm can occur.

My apologies to what you are experiencing just a few posts into this website. It just wasn’t like this back when I signed up 22 years ago. It was much better when we had class on here like stanwall and almarg. Class and useful information is a bit harder to come by these days, but with a little persistence hopefully class and useful information will eventually respond to you. Hang in there and keep the questions coming.
Oh, Paul6001....You walked into what looked like a garden and hit a land mine with the first footfall....:(  The welcome wagon that looked like a Volvo turned out to be a full-boat survivalist Humvee full of hungry survivalists....with clubs of spikes.

Bunch of junkyard dogs with analog gear that simply are well-honed flint spears spinning plastic grooved discs more fragile than porcelain, feeding 'fire bottle' tech from the grand-dad dimension...

Speakers?  I won't 'go there'. No....

(*L* Now that I've ticked off most of the gathered mob...."You guys are So Superstitious....It's just this little chromium switch here....*click*...)

I grew up with analog.  Slogged through upgrading to some degree, until the pricing for even 'low' high end went over the $ for a decent car....

...which is about when the Era of Digital Domains began.
It didn't require a degree in EE to read the spray paint on the B&M wall, y'all.

Analog is (and has been for awhile now....get 'woke') reaching it's apogee.  The 'tech' has gotten to the point that you NEED $10K IC's and cables to tweak the last .001% out of that stack.

I admire the tech involved.  Do I want that involvement? 
Oh, hell, no.

The majority of what y'all are listening to is so steeped in digital that you'd literally have to bird dog that LP from the day it's mastered in the studio, and be on a first name basis with the artists And the engineer (ignore his mix board....and the 'puter sopping it up) as well.  And it gets worse, unless you DIY it from there, kidding yourself.

We're Way Beyond playing a Stroh violin into a Edison megaphone scraping a wax disc.

That, and reading a gaggle of aging boomers trying to ignore the fact that their ears are Failing.

NO.  You can not hear what you used to.  It's simple science (remember Science?  It's what The Chump ignored, and has dragged us all into a hell of a virus that is already mutating faster than can be kept up with.)

I'm wearing aids.  I can outhear you.  I now know what I've been missing.

They're digital.  My gear is mostly digital.  Most of the source is, too.

Speakers?  Analog.  We're exciting air.  The last link has to be, until we get a USB plug in your skull...and that's being worked on NOW.

Like the young lady said...

"Right Here, Right Now."

Yes, MC....You've a Nice System....for a modern Antique.
I don't have to turn the lights off to enjoy my pile of garbage.

Have a nice day, J
No wonder the 'newbies' turn and run away.....get attacked for semantics and 'is that a question?'

Quit shoveling the grave of audiophilia while moaning about it dying.